Drive down memory lane leaves Ducks thinking about K-State's Harper

Wildcats' top receiver will face former teammates in Fiesta Bowl

EUGENE, Ore. — In the summer of 2008, several incoming freshmen from the Oregon football team took a road trip around the Fourth of July, packing into two cars to visit the southern Washington hometown of offensive lineman Nick Cody.

More than four years later, just four members of that recruiting class are still at Oregon and preparing to face Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl, including Cody, who drove one of the two cars.

The driver of the second car is no longer a Duck, but he also will be in Glendale, Ariz., for the Jan. 3 game. Chris Harper, the former Oregon quarterback and wideout who transferred to K-State in 2009, led the second vehicle and now helps lead the Wildcats as their top receiver.

“It’s really awesome to see him do well over there,” Cody said. “I understand what homesickness is like. I’m fortunate to be as close as I am; going from the Midwest to Oregon is a huge change, and I remember that was one of the biggest things that summer for him, that people were so different out here.”

Harper enters the Fiesta Bowl with 50 receptions for 786 yards and three touchdowns for the Wildcats (11-1). He joined the Ducks as a quarterback, completing 4 of 9 passes with a touchdown and two interceptions through five games in 2008 before moving to receiver.

Harper’s struggles in Oregon’s loss to Boise State that fall — after injuries to quarterbacks Justin Roper and Jeremiah Masoli — resulted in Darron Thomas making his Oregon debut. Harper had hoped to return to quarterback with the Wildcats, but was persuaded to move again to receiver after redshirting in 2009.

“He was a great athlete; probably wasn’t a great quarterback, but he was a great athlete,” fifth-year Oregon senior Dion Jordan said. “He took a chance coming out here and it didn’t work out for him, but he’s still a great athlete.”

Cody remembers Harper for a reserved personality that sometimes revealed a great sense of humor.

“He’d say something out of nowhere that would just make everybody bust up,” Cody said.

Oregon’s recruiting class of 2008 was a wild mix of players who took varying paths to Eugene and divergent roads afterward.

The final class of the Mike Bellotti era included several junior college transfers, including LeGarrette Blount and Blake Ferras; a few pressed into action as true freshmen, including linebackers Dewitt Stuckey and Josh Kaddu; and two early entries into the professional ranks, LaMichael James and Thomas.

Combine those circumstances with players who left the program (Mychal Rivera, Scott Grady) or suffered injuries (John Boyett, Blake Cantu) and the only fifth-year seniors left on the roster are Cody, Jordan, Kenjon Barner and Kiko Alonso.

Jordan and Barner are now first-team All-Pac 12 players, but on the opposite side of the ball from where they spent 2008. Jordan was a receiver and tight end who now plays defensive end; Barner was a cornerback who moved to running back.

But Jordan and Barner are two of the six Ducks poised to play in their fourth straight BCS game, fulfilling the dreams the 2008 class had when it arrived in Eugene.

“We talked about a lot of goals, a lot of things we wanted to accomplish, how we wanted to step it up a level,” Cody said. “When we were freshmen, we didn’t really know what we were talking about. But it worked out pretty well.”

STANDOUTS BARNER, KLEIN MEET: Barner practiced Saturday after missing Oregon’s first bowl workout Friday because of travel delays following the college football awards ceremony Thursday in Florida.

K-State quarterback Collin Klein was among the other top players who Barner encountered at the ceremony. Barner said he wished Klein luck in Saturday’s Heisman ceremony — Klein finished third behind winner Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M and Manti Te’o of Notre Dame — and the two congratulated each other on respective seasons that resulted in their Fiesta Bowl matchup.

Along with fellow Doak Walker Award finalists Johnathan Franklin and Montee Ball, Barner said he spent time with defensive backs and Jim Thorpe Award nominees Johnathan Banks of Mississippi State and Phillip Thomas of Fresno State. Barner ultimately finished third in voting for the Doak Walker, behind both Ball and Franklin.

“You’ve got to think you’re going to win,” Barner said of his confidence before the ceremony. “I feel like I had a pretty good season but, you know, (Ball) won. He must have deserved it.”

OREGON QUICK KICKS: Oregon left tackle Tyler Johnstone was named a freshman all-American by The Sporting News. ... Reserve safety Issac Dixon remains on crutches and with a cast protecting the leg injury that sidelined him for the final month of the regular season. ... The Ducks were in full pads for Saturday’s practice inside the Moshofsky Center.